Stoke City are pessimistic about their chances of pulling off a club-record £12m deal for Internazionale’s Xherdan Shaqiri. The Premier League club have agreed a fee with Inter but harbour doubts that the 23-year-old Swiss international can be persuaded to swap San Siro for the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke wanted to establish first of all whether they were in a position to be able to afford Shaqiri, who only joined the Serie A club from Bayern Munich in January. Yet nailing down that part of the deal appears to be the easy bit. Stoke realise that trying to convince Shaqiri to leave behind one of the most distinguished clubs in the world may prove challenging.
The deal is not dead and it is worth remembering that Stoke signed Bojan from Barcelona last summer. Yet acquiring Shaqiri, who played 15 league games for Inter in the second half of last season, to follow in the Spaniard’s footsteps will be easier said than done.
One player certain to leave Stoke this summer is Asmir Begovic, with Chelsea expected to return with an improved £8m bid for the 28-year-old goalkeeper, who is seen as a replacement for Petr Cech. Stoke rejected a £6m offer for Begovic but are resigned to the fact that the Bosnian will leave and are keen to try to take a Chelsea player on loan as part of the transfer.
Victor Moses spent last season on loan at Stoke but the indications are that he wants to keep his options open this term. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is another possibility but the word at Chelsea is that Mourinho will not consider allowing the 19-year-old midfielder to go out on loan. Patrick Bamford, prolific in the Championship with Middlesbrough last season, could also come into the equation.
Jonathan Walters, the Republic of Ireland international, is another Stoke player whose future is in doubt. Walter has 12 months remaining on his deal and there has been no progress in relation to the talks over a new contract, raising the possibility of the 31-year-old leaving this summer.
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